Cowboys use this tactic when they have to remove a sick animal or one that needs to be branded from the herd. In college, we also called it cutting the herd, but it had more to do with dating and luring that one girl away from her pack in order to communicate with her without the distraction (or influences) of her girlfriends. Crude as it may sound, it was often necessary in the courtship process. I successfully cut my wife from the herd 15+ years ago and it seems to have worked out for both of us (yet, I can only speak for myself I guess).
The process of cutting the herd goes beyond sick cattle or the need to get a phone number from a girl.
A friend of mine was putting together a huge proposal for the big important "yes sayers" in his company. This proposal would potentially change much of the way his company conducted business and this change would go against much of the grain of the company. In order for companies to grow, they often need to change, explore and evolve. In any competitive situation, if you don't stay open minded, your competitors will. While you are staying the course, they are looking for new ways to take business away from you. His company had been doing things successfully and the same way for over ten years, and to his knowledge, this was the first proposed push against the way things have always been done. For my friend and possibly the company, this was uncharted territory.
When it comes to convincing a group of people to change, you have to go about it much like the cowboys do when cutting a cow from the herd. You cannot come at the group with a flat platform of ideas or changes and expect everyone to come to a group consensus that this is a great thing for the company. Although many or most members of the group are like-minded, each individual in that group is different. The trigger points for each is different. They don't all care about the same things. The usually carry different titles within the company and hold the things that they are responsible for in higher regard than all of the other departments. They all have different concerns and their egos are all different. You can't just make one statement (unless you are THAT good) that has them all eating out of your hand and ready to sign up for whatever you're selling. Getting buy in from the group will take cutting tactics.
Using another example from the "Murphy Ranch", sheep tend to all follow a leader. If you can steer or lure that lead ram (or bellwether) in the right direction, everyone will follow. Also, keep in mind, If you scare sheep away from a watering hole (your idea) they will never return, no matter how thirsty.
For my friend, he works at the company he is trying to convince to make a change. He has the advantage of most likely knowing who the one or two individuals are that he needs to win over in order to swing the group. Remember, you're not initially after the POPULAR vote, you are after the IMPORTANT vote. By getting the right person on board with your plan, that individual will do the rest of the corralling for you. Identify the important person or people that you need to convince. Find what appeals to them and craft much of your message to reflect their concerns and trigger points. Stroke their ego where you can. If you know them well enough, use their words against them. If you have the opportunity to use one of their quotes in your speech or presentation, do it. Nothing gets people's attention better than when you care enough to listen to them.
By cutting the herd and focusing your energy on a group or individual within the group, your task becomes easier, more efficient and focused. By all means, don't ignore the other members of the herd. You need to acknowledge them in some capacity, just don't spread your focus too thin. Cut the right ones and the rest of the herd will follow.
Giddy up.
Friends-
Many of you know and many of you may not know, I wrote a book. I took a lot of my now, read by over 20,000 people, blog and turned it into a book. Every dollar made from the book goes into a college fund that we set up for my brother's daughter Phoebe. As you may recall, our brother passed away last March and it's been a challenging year for all involved.
For this weekend only, I am offering up the PDF version of the book for those who want to be the "first" to own a copy of the book. The added bonus to this is that 100% of your PDF purchase goes to the college fund. After this weekend, each distributor that carries the book (Nook, Amazon B&N, etc) will take a cut off the top. This process will be a little more cumbersome, but it will give those who want the book ASAP an opportunity. After you make the purchase, I can then email you the PDF of the book. If you just want to wait to buy a hard copy, etc. All of that will be up and running by Monday!
Order your PRE-SALE PDF version of the book by clicking the link below-
Make sure I get your email address, so I can send it to you asap!
Thank you!
We were hell on footballs when I was a kid. We'd play with them for hours and did our best to keep the dog from puncturing them. Eventually she would get a hold of the ball or we'd do something to put a hole in one of them and we were forced to beg my folks for the money to buy a new one. My dad would concede, since having a football would keep us outside and that is where kids belonged during most of the hours of the day.
When we got a new football, it was a tradition to play with it with the cardboard box still on. We would do this till the box fell off and then we continued to play with the ball like it was intended to be played with. Let me tell you how hard it was to throw a spiral at age 9, let alone with a cardboard exterior. Yet, we did it because we made this a tradition.
When you got a new baseball glove, you oiled it really well, stuck a ball in the pocket and slept with them under your pillow or mattress till it took on the proper glove shape. This was the only way to properly break in a new glove and all other methods were inferior. My dad did this when he was a kid, so it was our tradition
In college, when we bought a new baseball cap, you had to wear it forward for the first two weeks before you could put it on backwards. Not that big of a deal, but when I went to college, you wore your ball caps backwards most of the time. We wore it forward for those 2 weeks so that when security or someone of authority needed you to spin your cap around and wear it the correct way (forward), your hat wouldn't be too misshapen. Also, there was some sort of good luck/bad luck element if your hat had the logo of a sports team. My group of friends made this a tradition.
When oiling up my daughters softball glove, I was very tempted to make her sleep on it for the sake of tradition. My dad did it this way and I did it this way, so it's almost imperative that I pass this along to her. Well, I didn't make her do it. She is a bit of a princess and I had a strange suspicion that making her do this would result in her sneaking into my bed and wiggling in between my wife and I at 3am; causing everyone to not get any sleep. Perhaps this tradition will be just for Murphy males and I'll make my son do it instead?
I'm sure you had your share of odd traditions growing up and with many of those traditions you're still not sure why you did them. At the time of the birth of that tradition, there was a perfectly rational reason for it. Traditions are usually spawned with good intentions and every bit of rhyme and reason backing them up. Tradition brings on memories and more often than not, they come with comfort and positive feelings. Nostalgia keeps traditions alive.
How many things do you do in a day for the sake of tradition? How often do you make a certain decision because that's the way it's always been done? Someone started these traditions for one reason or another and at the time they made a lot of sense. Yet, as time went on, people realized that the meaning or origin of these traditions possibly no longer apply today.
People go about their day doing it the way it's always been done because they fear bucking tradition. They might even see a more efficient or smarter way of doing things, but side with tradition for the sake of keeping that tradition going. I'm not suggesting you kill traditions. I love a good tradition, especially if it's filled with history and positive nostalgia. If it's awesome, I'll even take on someone else's tradition! My wife grew up eating pizza on Christmas Eve. So, for the past 15 years, we've eaten pizza on Christmas Eve. This one works for me, since pizza goes great with beer and beer goes great with putting together Christmas presents for the kids. If "some assembly required" doesn't drive you to drinking, then the amount of noise coming from those same damn gifts on Christmas Day certainly will.
Apply the logic of filtering traditions to the way things are done in your life and career. Conventional ways are supposed to be questioned and challenged. Sometimes traditions are ruts and excuses. Know the difference and examine them to insure that they are not holding up progress or momentum. Start a new tradition of improving upon old traditions. Share your results with others and lead with your new healthy tradition.
Please keep the fun and nostalgic ones alive for the next generation. Those are meant to be timeless and they help to tell the story of your life.